Watch: Blackadder and co really did go forth in World War 1 – according to war records

You may be familiar with the names of Blackadder, Darling, Lieutenant George and Baldrick thanks to the BBC’s Blackadder series. But you may be surprised to learn that they really did exist and Forces War Records has the proof

The hugely popular Blackadder series ran for 6 years from 1983-1989, ending its run in the trenches of World War I, where the exploits of Captain Blackadder, Private Baldrick, Captain Darling and Lieutenant George culminated in the characters ‘going over the top’ for one last ‘hurrah’.

To mark the centenary of the Great War, the specialist military genealogy site Forces War Records has delved back into its 6 million military records to track down the real life counterparts of the characters made famous in Blackadder Goes Forth to mark the centenary of the Great War.

Medal Card for Pte James Baldrick

The exploits of their real-life counterparts were no less exciting or extraordinary as revealed by Forces War Records researchers. Watch our video feature to learn where the fiction ends and the fact begins and what the real- life Blackadder, Darling, Lieutenant George and Baldrick were truly like.